"University, Inc." is expanding its footprint across Finland. The small Nordic country, once seen as a poster child for education is experiencing the most direct corporate takeover of its universities. Last year, as part of the continuing wave of austerity measures, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä told the country's parliament that his coalition government had "decided on a total of €4 billion in cost savings in public finances during this parliamentary term". As a result, Finnish higher education is now more firmly on the neoliberal tracks with little chance of slowing down.

The challenge of youth unemployment, and legislative and regulatory measures taken to tackle it

Young people have suffered the most during the latest global economic crisis that hit in 2007. In the European Union, youth unemployment levels have increased exponentially in many member states. For example, youth unemployment in Italy (under 25 year-olds) increased from approximately 20% in 2007 to above 40% in 2014. Finland has also witnessed an increase in its youth unemployment (under 25 year-olds), which increased from 16.5% in 2007 to 20.5% in 2014.

I was reluctant to address such a polarizing issue because it is not always politically correct to discuss such topics but I felt compelled to. These issues need to be put out there for open discussion. Great change in any society comes from opening Pandora's box, sifting through the controversy and having the uncomfortable conversations that may be the catalysts for substantive social change.

AROUND this time a year ago Facebook celebrated its 10th year of existence. Along with the accolades associated with bringing together 1.2 billion users worldwide, however, increased negative publicity related to the service’s privacy policy was gathering momentum.

I studied strategy in Aalto University. Now I work in a very cool company called Reddal as a business developer.

When and how did you end up here?

I came to Finland in 2010 because of my girlfriend, who is Finnish. I had just graduated as an industrial engineer at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, while she was still studying here; so I was the detached one that could move around.